


Sleepless Nights

by all_the_ships_are_sailing



Category: Big Brother RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-16
Updated: 2014-11-16
Packaged: 2018-02-25 15:49:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2627348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/all_the_ships_are_sailing/pseuds/all_the_ships_are_sailing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt (bobthefrog107 on tumblr): Zankie get together in jury and are super PDA and “loud at night” (ahem) and the other jurors get annoyed with them. Bonus if you show the reactions of the incoming jurors.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It had been two weeks since Zach had arrived at the jury house. He’d spent most of the first week sleeping and trying to get his thoughts together about everything that had gone down in the house. Most of the things he was trying to figure out involved his interactions with a certain other houseguest. Zach had never had feelings like this for another man before and he was confused. By the time Donny entered the jury house a week after Zach, Zach had decided that it didn’t really matter to him. He needed to talk to Frankie about it and then he’d be able to get a better grip on the situation. So while he was outwardly hoping to see Derrick or Cody walk through the door, for a much more personal reason he was really hoping to see Frankie’s pink hair coming in.

When Donny arrived, it wasn’t without sadness. Jocasta, Hayden, and Zach were all disappointed to see him in jury, but he definitely came bearing stories of interesting happenings. Donny had told the other three after the cameras left that Frankie hadn’t been acting himself ever since Zach’s eviction. In fact, the behaviors he was describing sounded a lot more like Zach’s behaviors in the house than Frankie’s. Then he told about something that really peaked Zach’s interest. Apparently one night a few days after Zach’s eviction, everyone had been sitting together in the backyard when Frankie had brought up an interesting fact about his own life. He’d never been in love.

Zach had never been in love either, but Zach was only 23. Frankie was 28 (or that’s what he said anyway) and had slept with hundreds of men in his lifetime. 

**

“I wonder who it’ll be,” Jocasta said while the four members of the jury were sitting by their pool.

“Depends who won the HOH,” Donny said. Everyone else agreed.

“As much as I’d love to see her, I just hope it isn’t Nicole,” Hayden said.

“You know that’s how I feel about Frankie. Like I miss him, a lot,” Zach admitted sheepishly, “but he deserves to be there. Still in the game.”

“Yeah,” Jocasta agreed. “I hope it’s Derrick…”

“…or Cody,” Hayden added.

“That would be nice,” Zach said. “But I don’t see that happening.”

“Only chance would be if Nicole got the HOH,” Donny said.

A few moments later Hayden looked up and let out an exasperated sigh. “NO! Frankie! What happened?”

Zach who’s back was towards the walk way jumped to his feet and turned around immediately. As Frankie approached, Zach couldn’t help but smile and open his arms. The gesture brought a huge smile to Frankie’s face as he ran to Zach’s arms and threw his arms around Zach’s neck. Zach wrapped his arms around Frankie’s back and picked him up. Frankie’s legs wrapped around Zach’s waist and Zach spun around and set Frankie down in front of everyone else.

“I missed you,” Frankie said sheepishly, staring at Zach’s face.

“I heard,” Zach said with his signature half-smile. 

Frankie turned to Donny and gave him a pointed look. “What did you tell him?”

“Nothing,” Donny said, avoiding his eyes.

“Donny,” Frankie pleaded.

Zach wrapped his arms around Frankie from behind, resting his chin on Frankie’s shoulder. “He didn’t say anything bad. Just said you were being all mopey and sleeping all day with my pillow and eating too many cookies.” Zach kissed Frankie’s neck. “I missed you, too,” he mumbled.

**

“Where are you sleeping?” Zach asked with a yawn. He and Frankie had spent most of the afternoon and evening in the living room watching movies with Hayden. Frankie’s head was on Zach’s shoulder and Zach’s arm was around Frankie’s back.

“I don’t know.”

“The room I’m in has an empty bed. Like there’s just the two of them…”

“Do I have to sleep in the other bed?” Frankie asked, cuddling into Zach’s arms.

“I mean, my suitcase is on the bed now,” Zach said wrapping his arms around Frankie.

“We could share that bed to put our suitcases on and sleep on the other one.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Zach said. Frankie smiled and snuggled into Zach’s chest. Zach smiled and kissed the top of Frankie’s head.

“I missed you so much,” Frankie said looking up at Zach’s face.

“Missed you, too, babe.” They smiled at each other for a long time in the silence. Frankie yawned and snuggled back into Zach’s chest. “C’mon. Let’s go to bed.”


	2. Chapter 2

“I was worried,” Frankie said as Zach crawled under the covers.

“About what?” Zach asked, scooting closer to Frankie and running a hand down the other man’s bare back.

“Whether this would still be us outside of the game,” Frankie mumbled over his shoulder. “I’m glad it is,” he said happily. Frankie scooted backwards into Zach. Zach laughed and wrapped an arm around Frankie, kissing his shoulder.

“Always,” Zach said, laying his head back on the pillow.

**

“Zach, can we talk for a bit?” Frankie said as they got up from lunch the next afternoon.

“Yeah,” Zach said as he turned around from putting his plate in the dishwasher. “What’s up?”

“Um. Can we maybe go for a walk or something? I mean,” Frankie said glancing at the other jurors. “It’s kind of something I just wanted to talk to you about?”

“Oh,” Zach said with sudden realization washing over him. “Okay, yeah.”

They walked outside together. After they passed the pool, they sat down and hung their feet over the ledge. Frankie took a deep breath and looked at Zach. Zach was wringing his hands and looking rather nervous as if perhaps he knew what was coming and it was precisely the thing he had been dreading his whole life. “Zach,” Frankie started. He reached out and touched Zach’s thigh lightly with one hand. “I…”

“Can I say something first?” Zach said suddenly. Frankie was taken aback at first, but nodded. Zach smiled and put his hand on top of Frankie’s. He took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “I need to tell you things and I need to apologize. During my interviews after I got evicted, especially the one with Jeff. I said some things that I didn’t necessarily mean. I don’t want you to see that and get the wrong idea. I said things that weren’t at all true, because I was pushed back into a corner and I didn’t know how to escape.” Zach looked back down at his hands. “I sort of made it seem like I’d been playing you. Like on a personal level. And that’s so far from the truth, Frankie. I fucking love you, dude. I love you more than anyone I’ve ever met in my entire life. You’re the smartest and funniest person I have ever met and I don’t even know what it means about me or anything, but I’m in love with you, Frankie. That’s not really something I wanted to tell the world, so I was stuck. I didn’t know what to say, so I said you were touchy-feely and we were in an alliance so I didn’t want to push you away. Which I guess at first was probably true, but it didn’t take long before it was something else entirely. I’m sorry, Frankie. I’m really sorry and I really love you and I would do anything to never have to let you go again.”

“Zach,” Frankie mumbled. He flipped his hand over in Zach’s, allowing Zach to link their fingers together. “First of all,” Frankie said as he looked up into Zach’s eyes. “I love you, too, more than anything. Thank you, Zach. Thank you for saying that. For telling me what you said and everything. I didn’t expect you to say anything about us, honestly. I didn’t know what it was from your end, but if it was anything like what is from my end, I know you’re probably really confused about everything right now. Feel like you don’t even know yourself anymore?”

Zach nodded. “I don’t even know. The only thing I know is that I’ve literally never had these feelings about anyone before, but I fucking love you more than anyone I’ve ever known. And I don’t want to sit around being scared to act anymore. I don’t want to sit around pretending the feelings don’t exist. I’m sick of this. I’ll be the first to admit I have no clue what I’m doing in this situation, but if you I guess. I love you, Frankie, and I want to make this work. I have no fucking clue what I’m doing, but I’m tired of hiding from that. I had the excuse of cameras and microphones and America watching when we were in the house. I don’t have an excuse here, and I don’t want to have one again.”

Frankie couldn’t help but smile. “I should apologize, too,” he said sheepishly. “I’m the reason you got evicted, and I’m so fucking sorry. From the moment you left, I wasn’t the same. It wasn’t the same in the house without you. It was sad and lonely. I missed you more than anything. I missed you and I missed my family. I still miss them, but I have you now, so it’s bearable. I can deal with missing them if I have you. It’s weird to say and I’ve never experienced this before, but with you I almost feel at home regardless of these stupid fish bowls they put us in. I have you sitting here, holding my hand and it just makes the whole thing so much more bearable.”

“I feel like that, too,” Zach said with a smile.

“Really?” Zach nodded and squeezed Frankie’s hand. “I’m also so incredibly sorry about all the shit I’ve said about you. I know, you know I didn’t mean a word of it, but I feel so fucking terrible every time I think about it. I love you more than anything, but the only way I could survive in that game to the point I did was to throw my personal feelings for you and for everyone else out the window. As soon as you walked out that door it felt like a part of me was missing. Then I found your stupid blue pillow that still smelled like you and I clung to it like a toddler with a security blanket. That stupid pillow gave me some semblance of strength when nothing else could. Caleb tried to take your place, but no one ever could.” Zach snorted. “I missed you so much, Zach.”

“I missed you, too, Babe. So much. It hurt so bad to walk out that door at your hands. It hurt, but I know why you did it and I understand. And it’s behind us now.”

“Thank you,” Frankie mumbled as his head fell to Zach’s shoulder. They sat there just watching the skyline for a long time.

“Frankie?” Zach finally said. He reached across himself and put his right hand on Frankie’s face.

“Yeah, babe?” Frankie said. He lifted his head, resting it into Zach’s hand.

“Can I kiss you?”

Frankie smiled and nodded. He closed his eyes and leaned towards Zach. Zach closed his eyes and pressed his lips to Frankie’s. The kiss was slow and passionate. As the kiss deepened, Frankie’s tongue slipped along Zach’s lower lip. Zach’s lips parted and Frankie’s tongue slipped into his mouth.


	3. Chapter 3

“Wow,” Frankie said backing away from the kiss. Zach smiled. “That was amazing.”

“Perfect,” Zach mumbled, squeezing Frankie’s hand in his.

**

A while later, Zach and Frankie walked back into the house, hands still linked and smiles still plastered across their faces. “Where have you two been all afternoon?” Hayden asked as they walked through the living room.

“We were sitting out on the other side of the pool,” Zach said happily.

**

Later that night after everyone had gone to bed, Zach and Frankie were spending their time kissing and cuddling in bed. Frankie had positioned himself over top of Zach, their lips connected. Frankie pulled back, attempting to catch his breath. “I want you so bad right now,” Zach breathed.

“I’m all yours,” Frankie said, rubbing himself against Zach’s hip. Zach moaned as he felt Frankie’s hardness against his leg. Frankie smirked and reconnected their lips. As they kissed, Frankie’s hand slipped down Zach’s body to the growing erection in his pants. Zach moved his hips against Frankie’s touch, begging him to continue. Frankie’s lips kissed their way down Zach’s chest and over his abs; his hand never moved from its position, causing Zach to moan loudly. When Frankie’s lips reached the top of Zach’s waistband he stopped and removed not only his lips but his hands and stared into Zach’s pleading eyes. “Is this okay?” he asked as he hooked his index fingers into Zach’s waistband. Zach nodded.

“Yes,” he growled. “Please just yes, please.”

Frankie smirked and continued his work. Once he had Zach undressed beneath him, he sat back and smiled again. “You’re gorgeous,” he said. He leaned forward over Zach’s body and reconnected their lips briefly. “I love you so much,” he mumbled as he removed his own clothing.

“I love you, too,” Zach said, sitting up to admire the beauty sat before him. “Come back here,” he growled, reaching out and pulling Frankie down on top of him, reconnecting their lips.

**

The next morning when Frankie and Zach joined the other jurors at the table for breakfast they were getting some pretty crazy looks. They looked at each other, shared a brief kiss and sat down. Jocasta blinked and stared. Donny cleared his throat and Hayden decided to break the silence.

“So…you two…you’re a thing now?” Hayden asked. Frankie and Zach shared a brief look and nodded with smiles as they started eating breakfast. “Do you think,” Hayden continued. “That you could maybe try to keep the volume down a bit? No one needs to hear that…”

“Sorry,” Zach mumbled going red in the face.

Frankie laughed and put his hand on Zach’s upper thigh. “Sorry not sorry.”

Zach laughed and kissed Frankie again.

“Ugh. Are you going to keep that up, too?” Hayden asked, making a disgusted face.

This time it was Zach that laughed. He kissed Frankie again. “Yep,” he said with a small smile. “Never going to get enough of that.” They kissed again.


	4. Chapter 4

As the days moved on, Hayden’s requests were denied night after night. Zach and Frankie didn’t actually sleep very much, but they spent a lot of time in their bedroom. All that exploration Frankie had promised Zach was definitely being fulfilled. And when they did emerge from the bedroom they were joined at the hands and more often than not, the lips.

By the time Christine arrived at the jury house (the week following Frankie), the other three jurors were getting very annoyed with Zach and Frankie’s actions. After the camera crew left and Frankie had resettled himself on Zach’s lap and reattached their lips, Christine looked at them in disgust. “So you two then?”

“Huh?” Frankie asked, turning around in Zach’s arms to face the others.

“You two are um, together?” Christine asked again. Hayden laughed as Zach and Frankie both nodded and returned to their previous position.

“Are they always that ridiculous?” Christine asked turning to the others.

“It’s horrifying,” Donny said with reproach. “And they’re so loud at night.”

“Every night,” Hayden confirmed with a nod. “It’s disturbing.”

“Thanks guys,” Frankie said, turning around again. “Love you guys, too. Geez. It’s like we’re not allowed to be happy or something. What the fuck?”

“You’re allowed to be happy all you want,” Jocasta said. “But we’d rather not be subjected to watching or hearing it.”

“Excuse us for making up on lost time,” Zach remarked as he wrapped his arms around Frankie’s middle and rested his chin on Frankie’s shoulder.

“Can’t we just say this is lost time, too, and you can make it all up when you go home and we don’t have to see or hear it?” Hayden said.

“No,” Frankie said and Zach shook his head. “This isn’t working that way.”

“Now that I have him in my arms, I’m not letting go again.” Zach said snuggling into Frankie from behind and kissing his neck.

“Why can’t there be cameras here all the time?” Christine asked.

“That’s something I’m sure they’ve never heard in jury before,” Donny said with a laugh.

“Well this is a unique situation,” Christine added. “I think I’m going to be sick.”


	5. Chapter 5

By finale night, everyone who had been in the jury house was so fed up with Zach and Frankie’s behavior that they could not have possibly been more excited to get away from them. 

“I’ve heard a rumor,” Julie started, “that there’s been a little tension in the jury house.” Everyone except Zach and Frankie laughed, because they knew where this question was going. “Hayden, would you care to let us in on why you’re laughing?”

“Well, a certain two houseguests have been causing a bit of tension for everyone else. Because to be honest, none of us need to hear what goes on at night in their bedroom.”

“Are we going to tell everyone who you’re talking about, or?” Julie asked. The camera zoomed in on Zach and Frankie’s faces, both of which were turning bright red. Zach started nervously giggling.

“Zach, something to share with the class?” He shook his head and Frankie gave him a pointed look with a small smirk around Donny.

“Frankie, care to share?”

“What?” Frankie said turning around. “I have no idea what these people are talking about. There’s not tension in the jury house.”

“Yeah,” Zach added. “The most tension is me and Victoria completely ignoring each other’s presences and refusing to sit at the same table.”

“That is such lie,” Victoria said as she whirled around in her chair to look at Zach.

“Is not! Don’t talk to me.”

Victoria turned back to Julie. “What he said is true, except for that being the most tension.”

“So what is the tension then?”

Frankie and Zach exchanged a long pointed look during which Zach swallowed hard and nodded. Frankie smiled and turned to Julie. “Apparently, our fellow jury members have an issue with how close Zach and I are.” The entire audience exploded in gasps, shouts, and applause. 

“Oh? Zankie reunited and back for more of the best showmance in big brother history?”

“It’s not a showmance,” Zach insisted stubbornly.

“Oh? What would you call it then, Zach?”

“Love,” Zach mumbled. He swallowed and continued. “We’re in love. It’s not a showmance because it’s something more than that.” His face went bright red as he hid behind his hands. 

Frankie noticed and smiled. Frankie tapped Donny on the shoulder and ask if they could switch seats to which Donny agreed without hesitation. Once Frankie was sat next to Zach, he put a hand on Zach’s thigh and gave it a light squeeze. Zach unhid his face to give Frankie a brief grateful smile before hiding again. Julie threw to a commercial break and Frankie gave her a grateful smile before putting his lips against Zach’s ear. “Why are you hiding, Babe?”

“Because now everyone knows…” Zach answered, looking at Frankie.

“They were going to find out eventually anyway,” Frankie reminded him.

“I know, but…I guess I sort of wanted to like talk to my parents about it first instead of them finding out like this.”

Frankie scanned the audience until his eyes fell on Zach’s family. They were all smiling, though watching Zach carefully it was clear this wasn’t going to be a problem for them like Zach seemed to think it might be. Frankie smiled at them and they smiled back. Frankie then turned back to Zach. “Babe, look at your family. They’re smiling and happy. They’ll understand, I promise.”

Zach took a deep breath and dropped his hands, one falling on top of Frankie’s, their finger automatically intertwining. His eyes scanned until they met his mother’s gaze. She smiled at him and nodded towards Frankie approvingly. His eyes glanced to his father who mouthed, “It’s okay. We love you.” Zach smiled in relief and squeezed Frankie’s hand tightly.

**

A few hours later after Derrick had been announced the winner of the half million dollar prize and Zach had been chosen as America’s Favorite Player, Zach and Frankie had convinced both of their families to go to dinner together at one of Frankie’s favorite restaurant in LA.

“How long are you going to be in town?” Ariana asked Frankie as they were waiting for their food to arrive.

He and Zach exchanged glances. They had a plan, but they weren’t sure how everyone else was going to feel about it. “Well, we have the wrap party tomorrow night and I want to film a few things with some people out here. So maybe a week or so? Then I was thinking I could fly back to Florida with Nonna for a bit.”

“That would be so sweet of you, Frankie,” his grandmother said.

“What about you, Zach?” Ariana asked.

“Um. Well I was thinking about staying out here for a bit with Frankie and then flying back home and trying to get everything sorted out there.”

“Sorted out?” Zach’s mom inquired.

“Yeah,” Zach mumbled. “You know how we’ve talked before about how I’d have a lot more career opportunities if I moved to a city, right?”

“Zachary!” she exclaimed. “I don’t care that you want to move, but don’t lie to me about your motives,” she said, eyeing Frankie suspiciously.

“Well, I want to take advantage of what I’ve been given here,” Zach said. “I have an opportunity to make something of myself. It’s not really something I’d ever considered before. I just expected to stay close to home and whatever, but here we are. So at least for a while, yes. I’m moving to New York. I have someone I know and trust there, so it won’t be as bad. And I promise I’ll call all the time and come visit whenever I can. But I need to do this for me. And it definitely factors in that I don’t much feel like having to be separated from Frankie. Because the two and half weeks I was in jury without him was more than enough for a lifetime.”


End file.
